WEEK 78 - The One with the First Vision

   Every time a week goes by I have less and less to say, but my heart changes and grows every time. I feel like a person of very small words but with very big actions... And that has made all the difference. The other day I was in a taxi and we were talking to the taxi driver and we were talking about life and the gospel and how they go together. We arrived at our destination and he asked, "But there are so many churches, how can we know which one is true?" without even thinking I immediatly starting telling him about Joseph Smith and his expereicene as a young boy and he had that same question. I told him what he decided to do was read in the bible, where he found in James 1:5 "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given unto him." I told him how he then decided to ask of God, so he went to a quite near by wooden area where he could in peace, pray to the almighty God and ask him which of the churches was of him. Then all the sudden the words came out of my mouth as if they were mine own, this taxi driver could hardly even look me in the eyes as if he already knew the words I would speak were true, I said in Spanish,... "And this is what Joseph descirbes, ¨"I saw a pillar of light, directly above my head, above the brightness of the sun. The light gradually descended until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two persongages, standing above me. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other; This is my beloved son, HEAR HIM." " Then I shared with him the truth that this young boy Joseph saw, God the Father and the son Jesus Christ. And the Savior spoke unto him and told him that none of he churches were correct, but that they were all in error and that the Lord needed to restore his church to the earth. I invited him to do as Joseph did and pray to the all knowing God and ask him if this was true and if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the true and restored church that the Lord has brought back to the earth. He looked at me and said, "That's what I need to do."

   I know that this is what we all need to do. If we have doubts and lack wisdom, we need to ask of God. To all those who read this blog and are not yet members of this beautiful Church of our redeemer, I invite you to get down on your knees and pray to your Father in Heaven and ask him if these things are not true. I promise you that you he will reply in your hearts and I promise you that you will find a new life, a new joy and perspecitve that you have never had before. It changed my life forever. To those of you who are members and doubt these simple truths I invite you as well to get down on your knees to pray to God and ask him to soften your hearts to understand these truths once again, and he will tell you in your hearts what you need to do to come back to him more fully. To those of you that are members and are firm in the faith, I invite you to share what you know!! You never know who is ready to here this sweet message and I promise you, There is always time to share the gospel.

 

Hermana Ellison

 

PS....  I almost forgot...a dog peed on my companion yesterday...it was so funny!!

 

WEEK 77 - The One with the Wedding

This week has gone by way to fast and been way to amazing. The family I was talking about last week was married and baptized this week and I don't think I've ever felt such a peaceful spirit. I didn't do anything. The members did everything for them and we just came and sat in the back and watched a beautiful ordinance be performed. I love this work so much! I know that it is of the Lord. He loves his children and he loves the family. The family is so important. It's the most important social unit in the world. With powerful, good moral standing families we can change the world. I love seeing the hand of the Lord in my life....Oh how he loves us!

 

Here are some photos.   

 

Hermana Elise

 

 

 

 

WEEK 76 - The One Where we Need to Get back Into the Water

W had a lot of miracles this week. A daughter of God was baptized this week... I've never experienced such a beautiful, powerful baptism in my whole mission. Everything was planned so perfectly. Her sweet uncle, who was going to baptize, her had been practicing with the Elders to get the ordinance just right, the music and the decorations were all set, the members present; but I guess I needed to learn something. When it was time for the ordinance, the water was very hot for both of them and we took 10 or 25 minutes trying to cool it down. Madelin was very nervous to get into the hot water so we said a prayer before she stepped into the water so she would be able to bare it. They got into the water with intentions of doing the ordinance quickly and then getting out and that is not how it turned out. The sweet brother was very nervous and couldn't seem to get the words right. After about 10 tries he spoke the sweet words and the attempt to put her under the water was not complete. After about 6 or 7 more tries of putting her under the water, the witnesses said it was done. She got out of the water devastated, embarrassed and heart broken. With that, we knew that this saving ordinance if done correctly would not leave her feeling that way. We knew that she had not completely submerged in the water and completed the ordinance. After the Bishop prayed and talked to the witnesses, they decided it would need to be done another time. That means that me and my companion would have to go in and explain it to Madelin. I didn't know what I would say to her... We walked into the bathroom and she was completely dressed in her clothes with tears in her eyes. I prayed so much within my heart. I told her that because our Heavenly Father loves us so much and because He is perfect and wants us to be perfect one day, his ordinances have to be perfect. I testified of the Lords love and my companion as well and then I said, "Sister, will you put the dress back on? We need to do it again?" She looked down at the floor and she shook her head "No".  My heart sank within me and I couldn't believe it. I held her tight and told her its the only way we can enter into the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter about anyone else, but this was an ordinance with her and God. My companion promised that if the ordinance was done right she would not feel this way. I've never talked with so much of my heart, it all came down to... if it was really true, if this ordinance was really true if it really mattered. We stood close and my companion offered a powerful prayer and asked the Lord to give us courage to enter into the water again. We asked her again "Will you put on the dress?" This time with courage she put the dress on. It was a long walk into the font.  We prayed with in our heart and the ordinance was done perfectly. I'll never forget when she turned around that corner and we saw that smile on her face, she felt the spirit testify that it was right. We put the towel on her and she said thank you.
The Lord loves us so much and wants us to prepare for eternity. This is his perfect church and it may take us our whole lives to get something right, but he is right there beside us giving us as many times as it takes, till one day we can be perfected. I pray that we can all be humble like Madelin and get back in the water Get back in the water and remember the covenants we have made with the Lord and do whatever it takes to keep them again. Put the things of the world behind us and put the white dress back on.

Another miracle with a member. We have a family that had plans to get married and baptized this weekend. After working with them this week we realized that they were struggling and it wasn't their desire to be married this weekend. We as missionaries testified of gospel truths but more then that, we collaborated in our ward council to save this family. We talked with members and made assignments. We had lunch with on of the second councilors and we used our time with wisdom. We talked of references and talked of the investigators. We invited them to visit this family today instead of the following sunday. Later that night as we were doing our numbers we took this family off the baptismal list and prayed for them. After giving our numbers, the family called us and told us that the bishop and his second counciler had visited them and they decided it was the right thing to get married and are going to be baptized this weekend. We are so grateful for the members and we knew it was a miracle from the lord. The members can do things that we as missionaries some times can't. We are so grateful for the ward council and all they do.

 

I've been thinking a lot about what I've learned this week. And I've been thinking a great deal about a talk I recently read; "The Lord has a Plan for Us" https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/the-lord-has-a-plan-for-us?lang=eng   and I was thinking so much about a question he poses, "If you continue living the way you are living, will the promised blessings in your patriarchal blessing be fulfilled?" I love this question! and its a question we need to ask ourselves everyday. We need to remember what is going to bring eternal happiness. Because this life is short and what we do here determines are eternal life! It determines our eternal state that we will take after death. I've learned here in the mission what things are most important. I'm a big dreamer and I want to learn and do just about everything, but I know that I need to keep an eternal perspective. I need to keep the blessings the lord wants for me in my mind constantly. I love you all so much and don't forget to keep progressing and doing what the Lord would have you do.

 

Hermana Ellison

WEEK 75 - The One with Happiness

For this week... I love you all! Just remember to smile and be happy. Life is so good and struggles and challenges are apart of it. Take a moment to breath and tell God; thank you and that you promise to learn from what he wants to teach you. As for me I'm so happy and I love working. I just love to work, work, work! Just so you know how much I've changed, I love to work, get up early, talk to people and hug and kiss everyone! We have so many wonderful investigators right now. We are teaching a wonderful girl; Magdlain and she is a dream, she is such a wonderful example to us. We shared with her Mosiah 18 this week and after we read the qualifications for baptism that are found there and the example of this amazing people, we asked her if those too were the desires of her heart (to be baptized, to enter in the redil of the Lord, to serve and love others and to be a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places) and she said "Yes! These are the desires of our heart!" She is so wonderful, she will be baptized this Saturday. We are also teaching a wonderful family, they have come so far and are making so many changes in their lives. They have plans to be married and baptized on the 21st. We are so excited for them. They gave us lunch this weekend and they seem to love us too because they gave us SO much food. As always.

   My companion was sick for the first time in her mission this week! Awesome experience for every missionary so I was excited to be there for her for that. I also got to teach her how to wash clothes by hand. haha!  Can you believe she trusted me to teach her how to do that? I have the best companion!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes I can feel your love and your prayers!! Love you all so much.

 

Hermana Ellison

 

 

WEEK 74 - The One Where my Eyes Changed

I don't know what else to say but that I have the best companion in the entire world. I'm so grateful that the Lord trusts me with her and gave me the privilege of being with the best missionary. She is truly converted and humble and I want to be like her. This Monday I was in Santa Cruz for our monthly council meeting and the president pulled me aside and told me that he was going to have me train or be sister trainer, but that he just wanted me to do this and be with the best missionary in the mission and that she was going to be my companion... she is fairly new in the mission(3 or 4 months) and president gave me some specific instructions and I immediately knew she was amazing. She is from Antelope California! So about 30 minutes from my house and we were endowed in the same temple of good old Sacramento.
   This week I don't think I've ever been so guided by the spirit in my whole mission as I have this week. Thanks to being in the hospital for two weeks we had no cita fijas for the week, but the Lord blessed us more than ever before. Every cita we went to was there! We had days full of success and miracles, literally every day we saw a miracle. We have received so many referrals from the members and they are so excited to share the gospel with their friends that we hardly have to ask for referrals, right as we are about to ask the question they are already giving us a referral. The majority of the people we are teaching are either a referral, know a member or a Pf.  Everyone we have that will be baptized this month are just people that just showed up at church, people that just came to us searching. I have felt the hand of my Savior so strong this week. At first I didn't understand the Lord, I didn't understand this cambio and then he just showed me so many miracles and he said to me, "This is my work, this is my work, they are mine and you are too." I know what I need to do this cambio and it's magnify my calling and be someone that the Lord can count on. I just want him to know I can do what he asks me. I don't know what I did to deserve so many blessings from the Lord, but I love him so much. I've never seen so many miracles, my eyes are changed forever.

Hermana Ellison

 

My new companion

I found avocados!

Airport in Tarija